SANDS: December 2009

Obama's war escalation.

December has been a bloody month in the so-called Global War on Terror. In the past week, 10-20 civilians, many children, have been killed in Coalition operations in Afghanistan. Slaughter by the Taliban also continues via suicide and roadside bombs, with at least 8 US civilians and four Canadian soldiers killed.

In the video and picture below, Afghans are peacefully protesting these Coalition killings of civilians. It is worth noting that the killings of Coalition forces go hand in hand with Afghan civilian losses. Clearly, there is a cycle of violence that undermines Obama's plan to increase and escalate the Afghan war.

Peaceful protests against Obama's war

December also saw the expansion of the global war with missile strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen. Again, the very fact that Obama is assaulting Yemeni villages undermines the entire rationale for the Iraq and Afghani occupations. Another cycle of violence emerges with a Yemeni launched terror attempt on an airliner on Christmas day. Characteristically, the media have been very reluctant to link the two incidents or mention the thousands of Yemenis who peacefully protested these actions.

Exceptions to the rulers

There are some brief exceptions, where informed commentators have managed to ask penitent questions about the effect of the global war on terror and the motivations of terrorists.

In the video below, at 5.30 mins in, Ron Paul claims that Al Queda is the main beneficiary of a War on Terror that drains the US treasury and provides ample motivation for Al Queda members. "We have fallen into Osama's trap", says Paul. For this he is called an anti-Semite by Ben Stein.

Liberals call for blankets

In fact, the debate has not bothered with terrorist motivations but has focused on the security blankets that Homeland Security should be providing. Despite the Standard Times editorializing that we must build a better security mouse trap it is clear that terrorists will always strive to find new ways to attack and overcome security. In the video below, CIA vet Bob Baer describes how incendary devices need not be complex in nature and can be undetectable regardless of security appartus applied. Every civilization has known that there is no perfect guard against fire.

CIA intelligence versus AM radio
Neither is there a perfect system that will allow us to forget about the context of the immense Bush/Obama assaults. Without even touching upon morality and international law, it would be far better to ask why trillions of dollars are dedicated to occupations that seem to have a net negative security outcome?

Little surprise that the local GOP heroes, fresh from fighting the war on Christmas, claim that the ups and downs of the Global War on Terror ("minor battles fought along the way") are irrelevant to the big picture of "Political Correctness / Western Guilt " on the homefront. Letters to the editor about Islam and articles on sites like Front Page Mag and AWorld Net Daily are the real battleground.

Again, on Hardball on 12-28-09, CIA vet Bob Baer has a different take, saying ( at 7.30 mins) in the video below: "We need fewer troops in the Middle East..there's no help...we have to kill Muslims, we have an army in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Iraq...but the more Muslims we kill, the more enemies we have this just becomes a never ending cycle, thats what worries me.....We have to find a way to get out of these wars as fast as we can."

New Year's resolutions
So, in 2010, who should we listen to?

A president who flees to the easy militarily option at every shriek from the right wing?

Liberals at the Standard Times who fantasize about a perfect security blanket and ignore the trillion dollar war elephant?

Right wing talk show generals who obsess over Muslims in the blogosphere?

Or an intelligence operative who has assessed the nature of the small terrorist cells we are facing and proposes a way to address them?